Paul Smith, born in The Hague, the Netherlands, in 1953. Ph.D. from Leiden University. Professor of French Literature at Leiden University.
Fellow (1 September 2004 – 30 JUne 2005)
DISPOSITIO AND REWRITING IN FRENCH LITERATURE
During my stay at NIAS, I have completed one monograph in Dutch “Het schouwtoneel der dieren. Embleemfabels in de Nederlanden (1567-ca. 1670)” (to be published by Verloren, Hilversum, December 2005), and nearly completed a monograph in English (“Questions of Order: New Readings in Sixteenth-Century French Literature”), and one in French (“Réécrire la Renaissance: de Proust à Tounier”). These books, for which I received a NWO-grant, will be completed before 1 December 2005.
Moreover, my stay at NIAS enabled me to prepare an international congress entitled “Montaigne and the Low Countries / Montaigne et les Pays-Bas (1580-1700)” at Leiden University, 1-2 September 2005, and an exhibition on the same subject in the Leiden University Library, with the corresponding catalogue “Een Ridder van groot oordeel. Montaigne in Leiden”. Catalogus bij een tentoonstelling in de Leidse Universiteitsbibliotheek 1 September – 4 December 2005, Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, 2005. I have been able to co-edit three books, and I have participated in three international congresses (Leiden, Paris, Utrecht).
I have also written a number of articles, which will be published soon. The NIAS fellowship has offered the conditions for intellectual concentration, indispensable for writing my monographs and articles.